The Museum Within proposes alternative forms of inquiry into the keeping of Indian heritage. Do Indian museums aptly serve as custodians of material culture and collective identity? Do our historical sites deserve more respect as emblems of social history?
 
Donning the mantles of archaeologist, museum curator and conservator, Debasish Mukherjee reimagines these roles and reconstructs architectures and objects from his past in order to raise questions around preservation and neglect. He employs the archaeologist's quest as a way of resisting the alleged ‘ruin’ that claim many historical sites today. Mukherjee’s work stems from an impulse to urge a social awakening where communities take pride in the architectures that stand as relics of the past – sentinels of aspiration, power, function and grandeur that once was.